Yeah- Virgin Galatic is cool- if all you want to do is get people to pay a quater million bucks for a suborbital pop into micro gravity for a few minutes.
I am far more excited about Space-X Falcon 9 and the Dragon Spacecraft. A true orbital system that can go to the ISS and carry a useful load. They even picked cool names for the vehicles! It will eventually be man rated and used for transport of crewmembers to / from orbit.
It is privately funded, developed and deployed by a team with vision and the techncal expertise to make it sucessful. While it isn't in the same league as the Shuttle, it can give Delta / Atlas / Proton heavy lift rockets a run for their money. It will be an independant viable alternative to buying rides from our " Partners" like Russia, India, Japan and probably China ( when they get past using copies of 30 year old Russian technology).
Do a Google search - you will be impressed with what they have done / will do.
I would love to be involved with something like this, but unfortunatley I am too far along in my current field to make a timely transition to a new path and still pay the bills.
Here is a link to one of their press releases.
http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20100820" What is the difference between a job and a good career?
With a job you get bills in your mailbox and send out checks.
With a good career you get checks in your mailbox and send out bills!"
Topic: SPACE - Closer than you think! (Read 2360 times)